Bay's unstable ice claims snowmobiler

By Cheryl Wade of the Daily News

Published 8:00 pm, Sunday, January 20, 2002

BAY CITY  The body of a 27-year-old Bay City man was found early Sunday after he and his snowmobile fell through the ice, prompting another warning from Coast Guard officials about going on Saginaw Bay.

The Bay County Sheriff's Office identified the man as Jay Scott Weaver. Rescue personnel from the Coast Guard's Saginaw River station found his body just before 5 a.m. in 5 feet of water, 1 3/4 miles from the mouth of the Kawkawlin River near Bay City.

Weaver was at a party Saturday night riding with friends up and down the Kawkawlin River, said Executive Petty Officer Jason Rule. Three snowmobiles, including Weaver's, headed north down the river. When they got near the mouth, two drivers turned back but Weaver kept going.

Rule said ice thickness can vary a great deal on the Saginaw Bay. A person might think it's 15 inches thick in one spot but, two feet away, it could be an inch thick, Rule said. Many factors determine ice thickness  undergrowth, pilings or rocks that absorb heat and can make the ice weak.

"When it warms up and refreezes, warms up and refreezes, it makes that ice brittle," Rule said. "People are still going out there risking their lives over fish, and in this case it was just to go out and have a little fun."

When his friends realized 15 or 20 minutes later that Weaver wasn't with them, they went back out onto the ice in snowmobiles and on foot, Rule said. Two hours passed and they couldn't find Weaver, so they called the Coast Guard just after 1 a.m.

Coast Guard personnel found a fresh hole in the ice, then found a helmet. Later, they found the snowmobile, gloves and a wool cap.

Still unable to find Weaver, they sent for a helicopter from the Detroit station. It lighted up the area and, 30 or 40 minutes later, rescuers found Weaver's body.

During the same time, Coast Guard rescuers aided at the scene of another mishap. A man and woman were out riding on a snowmobile when the machine flipped over and the woman fell off and hit her head. She was not wearing a snowmobile suit, gloves or helmet. The man was fully outfitted. The woman was taken to Bay Medical Center for treatment, Rule said. The name of the woman was not available, nor was a report on her condition.

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This is not the first ice fatality on Saginaw Bay this year. Earlier in January, the body of a 38-year-old Tawas man was recovered after he fell through the ice near the shoreline of Saginaw Bay near Tawas.